Risk Assessment for Small Businesses

As the new year gets underway, savvy businesses take stock of themselves. Risk assessment–the process of determining the likelihood of a specific negative event occurring–is an essential process which managers and executives need to stay on top of.

Which “negative events” are we talking about? Risk assessment (and the accompanying mitigation efforts) should occur at every level of an organization, from assessing the risk of employee injury all the way up to assessing the risk of financial insolvency or high-level litigation. Regulatory agencies often impose risk assessment requirements, as do certification systems such as ISO.

Clearly, risk assessment is a vast and complex endeavor essential to all organizations.

There are myriad tools in the marketplace for various aspects of risk assessment. One tool we’ve come to value very highly is software which evaluates credit and performance risk. Argos Risk Surveillance is a Minnesota-based company and a top supplier of such software. Argos Risk’s software enables their clients to monitor extensive financial and credit details about their customers, their vendors, their competitors and themselves.

By consolidating this information on a custom dashboard, and providing easily digested reports, Argos enables companies like ours to vet customers, prospects and partners for risk and business health. The data goes beyond the typical credit score. Alerts are delivered on a broad range of important business health barometers, such as analysis of company reputation, full address analysis, liens, litigation, lawsuits, judgments, mergers/acquisitions, CFPB updates, earnings updates, changes in control, staffing changes, changes in ownership, Board of Director changes, issue/redemption/repurchase, website content, and changes in overall business health and credit risk.

When making important business decisions about entering into any kind of business relationship with another company–as customer, as vendor, and in acquisitions–these in-depth details are invaluable.

In addition, viewing your own company’s performance through the lens of a risk assessment tool such as Argos Risk can reveal important information ranging from errors in the public record to compliance issues.

While the complex world of risk assessment may seem overwhelming to tackle, it’s essential to company health and growth. Engaging the support of an expert like Argos is a huge step in the right direction.

Do you have any experience with risk assessment successes or failures? What are your strategies?